Archive for March 12th, 2010

Naked Man Becomes Florida Roadside Attraction In Port St. Lucia, Florida, a naked man spotted Sunday along South U.S. 1 told investigators he was in the buff because “he wanted to give people a show,” according to a police report. Armando Alexander Calvo, 55, was “naked laying in the grass” when police arrived in response to a 911 call. See Calvo’s mug shot.

The scandal around disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Massa rocked Capitol Hill again Thursday as Republicans forced ethics officials to take another look at sordid charges of sexual harassment – and how they were handled. […]

“Speaker Pelosi once promised the American people ‘the most open and ethical’ Congress in history, but she has broken that promise,” Boehner said.

Today, the Washington Post — apparently because there were no members of the Kagan family available — has an Op-Ed from Howell Raines castigating journalists for not calling FoxNews what it is, a right-wing propaganda operation 23:54/7.

This will not set well with alleged media critic Howard Kurtz as it will take away from his Tiger Woods/Eric Massa-related twitter time.

…some say a distinction must be made between Fox’s opinion shows (O’Reilly, Beck, Hannity) and its news programming.

Well, I say this Mr. or Ms. “Some” is a real asshole, which must be why Kurtz respects their opinion.

A distinction between the opinion shows as O’Reilly, Beck, and Hannity and the news programming?

Which is what?

Fox & Friends, where every morning is three hours of agenda setting on right-wing talking points? Where it is a legitimate for interviewees to appear as pimps for faked news stories (no correction for that yet, right?).

Or perhaps it’s just the rest of the “fair” and “balanced” “news” programming, like Megyn Kelly’s finding a broad swath of the public constituted by four white people at a retirement community?

Dodd Decision A Surprise To Reformers Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd’s decision to break off negotiations with Republicans and go it alone on financial regulatory reform legislation came as a…

Rove: “Senate bill adds hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit.” Rove also falsely claimed the Senate bill would add to the deficit, writing, “Blue Dogs are upset by the fact that the Senate bill adds hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit.”

Rove falsely suggested Senate bill contained no immediate “benefits.” Rove also claimed that “[t]he Senate bill’s tax increases and Medicare benefit cuts kick in right away while its benefits (subsidies for health-care coverage) don’t start until 2013 and aren’t fully operational for seven years,” falsely suggesting that the only “benefits” in the bill are “subsidies for health-care coverage.”

The Senate health care reform bill as passed states that if a “qualified health plan” offered under the health insurance exchange provides coverage of abortion services for which public funding is banned, “the issuer of the plan shall not use any amount attributable” to the subsidies created under the bill “for purposes of paying for such services.”

Senate bill establishes a separate premium to segregate funds used to pay for abortions from federal funds. The Senate bill as passed further requires issuers to “collect from each enrollee” in plans that cover abortions a “separate payment” for “an amount equal to the actuarial value of the coverage of” abortion services. This value must be at least $1 per enrollee, per month. All such funds are deposited into a separate account used by the issuer to pay for abortion services; federal funds and the remaining premium payments are used to pay for all other services.

Current law allows for Medicaid to provide coverage for abortions restricted by Hyde by using similar fund segregation. According to a November 1, 2009, study by the Guttmacher Institute, 17 states provide coverage under Medicaid for “all or most medically necessary abortions,” not just abortions in cases of life endangerment, rape, and incest. Those states “us[e] their own funds” — not federal funds — “to pay” for the procedures. Therefore, in 17 states, Medicaid, a federally subsidized health care program, covers abortions in circumstances in which federal money is prohibited from being spent on abortion.

CBO: Senate health care bill will lower the deficit

CBO: Senate bill yields “a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion” over 10 years. On December 19, 2009, CBO reported of the Senate bill incorporating the manager’s amendment:

CBO and JCT estimate that the direct spending and revenue effects of enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act incorporating the manager’s amendment would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion over the 2010-2019 period.

CBO: Over second 10 years, Senate bill would save “between one-quarter percent and one-half percent of GDP.” In a December 20, 2009, letter amending the December 19 report, CBO director Douglas Elmendorf wrote:

All told, CBO expects that the legislation, if enacted, would reduce federal budget deficits over the decade after 2019 relative to those projected under current law — with a total effect during that decade that is in a broad range between one-quarter percent and one-half percent of GDP.

Numerous benefits from Senate health care bill would “be available in the first year after enactment” of the bill

Senate Democrats note “Immediate Benefits” of health care bill. Despite Rove’s suggestion, according to a document put forth by Senate Democrats summarizing the “Immediate Benefits” of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the bill includes numerous benefits that would “be available in the first year after enactment” of the bill. The benefits include “access to affordable coverage for the uninsured with pre-existing conditions,” “access to quality care for vulnerable populations,” “no pre-existing coverage exclusions for children,” “re-insurance for retiree health benefit plans,” “closing the coverage gap in the Medicare (Part D) Drug Benefit,” “small business tax credits,” “ensuring value for premium payments,” protection of “patients’ choice of doctors,” “prohibiting insurers from requiring prior authorization before” a “woman sees an ob-gyn,” “ensuring access to emergency care,” “extension of dependent coverage for young adults,” “coverage of prevention and wellness benefits”; “free, annual wellness visit” for Medicare beneficiaries,” a prohibition on “insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits,” “restricted annual limits on coverage,” and prohibiting “insurers from rescinding insurance when claims are filed,” among other immediate benefits.

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Quote of the Day “There is something Orwellian about the GOP leadership giving political advice to Democrats.”

— White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, quoted by Mike Allen, who notes, “If GOP leaders are so confident health reform is a political plus, why do they keep offering Dems political advice?”

March of Folly for Democrats? Democratic pollsters Patrick Caddell and Douglas Schoen write in the Washington Post that their party’s “blind persistence in the face of reality” on the health care reform bill “threatens to turn this political march of folly into an electoral rout in November.”

“First, the battle for public opinion has been lost. Comprehensive health care has been lost. If it fails, as appears possible, Democrats will face the brunt of the electorate’s reaction. If it passes, however, Democrats will face a far greater calamitous reaction at the polls. Wishing, praying or pretending will not change these outcomes.”

Jobs and Change, Communications and Energy Jobs are the chief concerns of most Americans right now. Those with them are scared they might lose them. Those without them want to find one. What we need to do is clear: pass laws that open new industries to…

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The Hollywood Liberal started in 2004 at the height of the Bush Administration madness in America.
We were inspired by the late great Bartcop.com. The very first thing I did when the site started was to get arrested at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. My arrest at the start of a march from The World Trade Center was later ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. On New Years Eve 2014 the case was finally settled, with a judge awarding a class action suit that I was part of over $26 Million. I posted daily on the blog up until the end of The Bush error, and the site is now run as a history of the whole fiasco. Feel free to browse the old postings, pictures, & comics (an HL favorite) It reveals the twisted history of the times. Thanks H.L.